Why I Became a Teacher

Well its friday and that means I get to spend the weekend with my babes. This friday I am off work for the last time because Camdyn Cate has a doctors appointment to check for hip dysplasia. It is also day two of exams at our HS which means that we will be out of school very soon. I just got back from maternity leave this past monday so I am super busy trying to grade everything the students did while I was out. I started grading my dance II's choreography projects. Basically students chose an idea to use as the inspiration for their dance and choreographed a dance as well as used manipulations to create new choreography based on their idea's. It is an extremely hard project, which uses a lot of the information I learned in college. I think some of my students believe me to be a "hard" teacher and think dance shouldnt be this academic but I want students to really learn from my class, not just learn combinations and perform them in class but learn how to choreograph as well as how to take their feelings and put them into the form of a dance. The style of dance I focus on in my class is based on their interpretation of feelings and movement. I want my students to express their emotions through dance. While grading these project on wednesday and thursday I was extremely proud of my students. I kept remembering how a particular student danced in Dance I and I was amazed at the transformation. I knew I had a great dance II this semester because the class was very supportive of each other and willing to try anything for me as well as extremely talented dancers so I wasnt expecting bad projects. I do understand that my expectations for students are extreme sometimes but I have faith that all my students can do what I expect. Basically I remembered why I became a teacher, to see this type of growth in my students. It is very fulfilling to see what you had a part in creating whether it is a productive student in society or just a self confident dancer who successfully put an idea into movements to form a dance! I am just so proud of my students and what they have accomplished so far. I really hope each of them decides to take Dance III but most of the time students are taking so many classes to prepare for college they just dont have room in their schedule for another dance class. I hope by reading this post you will encourage your children to take arts classes. It gives them a chance to be creative and excell at something other than academics. It is amazing what our arts department students can accomplish in 18 weeks. I wish the arts were more important in our school systems but for now they can only be described as an "elective" and not required for graduation.